1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a novel, electro-thermosensitive transfer printer in which wax ink, or resin ink equivalent thereto, is transferred as dots of various sizes onto the surface of a blanket roller or a blanket belt and thereby images are printed, and a resistive ribbon thermal print head applicable to this printer.
2. Description of Related Art
By the advancements of computers and communication apparatuses, various printers using common and special paper, such as thermal transfer printers, ink jet printers, and electrophotographic printers (lasers, LEDs, and liquid crystals), are developed and are now commercially available.
The thermal transfer printer has the problem that the efficiency of utilization of the ink ribbon is extremely impaired and many ink ribbons are consumed for the amount of printing. Additionally, in a thermal adhesive printer, multi-tone production is difficult because of the characteristics of a printing head and pigment wax ink. In contrast to this, a sublimation dye transfer printer is suitable for multi-tone production, but uses particular exclusive dye (disperse dye) and thus has the problems that not only does it require special paper usable for the dye as matter to be printed, but also the dye is liable to fade.
The ink jet printer requires printing paper such that ink droplets are not scattered and are effectively absorbed and a particular coating is applied in order to obtain a good image. Furthermore, this printer has the problem that in order to prevent the occurrence of nozzle clogging and kogation (burning of the head), dye must be used in which a color substance do not contain solid matter or even though the solid matter is contained, its size is less than 1 μm. In particular, for a bubble jet printer, even when dye ink is used, kogation (burning of the head) is liable to occur in the printing head, and therefore, at present, used printing heads are disposed as waste together with color substance tanks.
In the electrophotographic printer, a photosensitive drum unit and a development unit are integrally constructed, and used ones are disposed as waste together with residual toner and photoreceptors, with a resulting increase in running cost. In particular, for electronic photographs of liquid development, the recovery and disposal of vapor produced in fixing and drying of a petroleum-based organic solvent used for scattering of toner and the disposal of other remainders pose major pollution problems.